The need for tradition

With the onset of the inaugural Twenty 20 cup, the focus of the cricketing marketers shifts squarely onto youngsters in the 16 to 24 year old sector. For some reason, probably unbeknown to most people in that range, the ploy is to attempt to dazzle the spectators with coloured kits, baseball-esque dugouts for batsmen, mascots aplenty and half time pop concerts.

I don't wish to harp on like some middle aged devotee of Georgian day cricket and all its trappings, but it seems to me that a lot of the heritage of the game is being quickly swept aside. The enthusiasts of the game have been cringing since "pyjama" cricket was first initiated and are finding the perpetual tweaking to the sport all too disheartening. Let us try to remember why we first started savouring the summer game and all of its romanticism's; the sound of the bell marshaling the chosen thirteen out onto the pitch; the sound of willow striking leather for the first boundary of the day - and the heart warming ovation that promptly follows; the polite banter between the officiator and bowler, denied his LBW appeal; the batsman saluting his peers after his hard fought century is warmly applauded; the commentators who describe so eloquently the game and the ambiance hither and yon. Will Twenty 20 detract from these traits?

The new format will be greeted by all and sundry, and rightly so - any move to introduce the younger generation is indeed a positive one, but the gap between the new game and the test match is vast. This is the real problem area for any marketing mogul; even Getty never sought a viable bridge for that gap. The problem lies not with cricket, but its prime competitors; football (soccer to those outside Europe); rugby and - possibly the deadliest rival for attention - video games. The draw of these sports and pastimes is aided by multi-billion dollar marketing campaigns. Cricket cannot compete and realistically never will.

In this reporter's eyes, the only approach is a confident, positive one. The approach that what we have in test match cricket is uniquely special to its adherents. Test matches are where cricket is, and always has been. One day internationals have drawn in new supporters and the stayers have moved on to the five day game as the (excuse my 21st century vernacular) "Daddy" of cricketing contests. It is the obvious aim of the ECB that the innovative, new game will do the same. Let us all hope that test matches remain the solitary place where a person can enjoy a traditional game of cricket amidst all the hysteria surrounding shorter variants of our sport.

Posted by Lee